Pneumatic agitating-tank for butter-oils.



PATENTED JUNE 11, 1907.

G. G. MARTIN & W.'D. JONES. I PNEUMATIC AGITATING TANK FOR BUTTER OILS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.4,1906.

n15 Norms PETERS c0. wAsumc-ron. 2.1:

pairs STATES PATENT orrrcn.

CHARLES C. MARTIN AND WILLIAM D. JONES, OF DENVER, COLORADO; SAID JONESASSIGNOR TO SAID MARTIN.

PNEUMATIC AGlTATlNG-TANK FOR BUTTER-OILS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1907.

Application filed September 4, 1906. Serial No- 383,171.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES C. MARTIN and XVILLIAM D. J ONES, citizensof the United States of America, residing at the city and county ofDenver and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful PneumaticAgitating-Tank for Butter-Oils, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to a new and improved machine for imparting tomelted butter oil, a hot oxygen treatment.

The objects of our invention are: First, to provide a machine that willseparate, eradicate, and eliminate the impurities of melted butter oil,and that will destroy and remove its fungus and germ life, and that willrenovate, purify, and refine it. Second, to pro vide a melted butterholding machine, provided with an innumerable number of small hot airdischarging apertures that are arranged to be connected to a supply ofhot air under pressure, and that are arranged to discharge needle-likejets of hot oxygen into the melted butter oil within the machine, withpressure enough to force the hot air through the melted butter andremove from the butter oil its impurities. And third, to provide amachine in which melted butter oil may be given a hot oxygen treatment,and in which the impurities are removed by air suction. lVe attain theseobjects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1, is a perspective view of the improved butter oil renovatingand refining tank. Fig. 2, is a vertical longitudinal sectional viewthereof. Fig. 3, is a plan view of one of the sets of perforated pipesthrough which hot air is forced to the interior of the tank. And Fig. 4,is a detail view in section of two of the perforated pipes, illustratingthe different directions in which the jets of air are forced.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1, designates a machine whichconsists of a double receptacle vessel or tank which we term a pneumaticpercolating refiner. This machine is made of such an area of surfacethat the charge of melted butter oil which is placed in it to berenovated and refined, will be confined in a body of shallow depth, andin this tank we subject the butter oil for a period of time of fromabout three to five hours, to a continuous agitation, which we impart toit by percolating substantially evenly throughout its area thousands ofneedle-like jets of hot air under suflicient pressure to have a liftingeffect on the butter oil, and of sufficient force to exert a separating,and comminuting and removing effect on the semisolid, mucilaginous,albuminous, sticky, and other natural or any foreign substance, that maybe present in the butter that is under renovating and refiningtreatment. The amount of time required to treat a charge of butter oilin this pneumatic percolator refiner, depends on the quality of thebutter being renovated and refined. This pneumatic percolating andrefining machine consists of two tanks 2 and 3, one within the other.The inner tank 3, may be of any desired capacity, but in practice wepreferably make it to hold charges of about from twelve to sixteenhundred pounds of butter oil at each charge This inner tank 3, is madeof an area that will permit this charge of butter oil to stand in it ata shallow depth of preferably about a few inches, the depth depending onthe pressure of the hot air, but we have found in practice that weobtain the best possible results with a pressure of from about eight tosixteen ounces of hot air per square inch, and with a depth of butteroil of about ten to twelve inches, and we heat the air to a temperatureof from about one hundred to twohundred degrees Fahrenheit, and wedischarge preferably about ten hundred to twelve hundred cubic feet ofhot air into this depth and volume of butter oil per minute. I

The inside tank 3,sits within the outside tank 2, and the outside tank 2is heated by any suitable means, preferably by being filled with Waterwhich is heated by a steam pipe 4, extending from a boiler to a pipecoil 6, lo catedwithin the outer tank, from whichan exhaust pipe 7extends. This hot water is used to keep the butter oil at a propermelted liquid state. The inner tank 3, is a closed tank, and is providedwith large entrance covers 8 and 9, which are preferably positioned atthe ends of the tank. This pneumatic percolating and refining machine isprovided with an air supply pipe 10, from which branches 11 and 12extend to the opposite end portions of the machine, and extend into thetank to its bottom, where they are each connected to a cross-pipe 13,from the opposite sides of each of which pipes 14 extend, the outer endsof which are provided with removable pipe caps, which may be removed atany time when it is desired to clean the pipes 14. These pipes 14 extendalong the bottom of the tank to its central portion, and also to itsopposite end portion, and they are provided with innumerable apertures15, which are placed close together along the pipe and are arranged inthe pipes of the coils to discharge the air jets in all directions ifdesired, but preferably downward, so as to discharge close to or againstthe bottom of the tank, and at downwardly angles on opposite sides ofeach pipe. e preferably place fif teen hundred of these hot air jetapertures in each air discharging group of pipes; consequently a tankcapable of holding about from twelve to sixteen hundred pounds of butteroil would contain three thousand of these air jet perforations, and theperforations and these groups of pipes are so arranged that these jetsof air are discharged close together into the butter oil, andsubstantially evenly throughout the tank s area and the entire area of.the butter oil. The air is supplied by any suitable air compressingmachine, such as a blower, from which the pipe 10 extends to themachine.

The hot air that forms the percolating ets may be heated before itenters the blower or after it leaves the blower, or it may be heatedinthe course of its compression, to the desired degree, if an aircompressor is used, but we preferably heat the air by inserting withinthe pipe 10 that conveys the air from the blower to the tank 3, a steamcoil 10A, which is operatively connected. to a steam boiler. Then theair as it flows through the pipe 10, also passes through the steam coilwithin the pipe 10, and is heated to the desired degree of heat, whichis regulated at the boiler. This hot oxygen flowing into this sizedcharge of butter oil under this pressure and in. such a great volume perminute, percolates through the butter oil-with such a constant. steadyforce that it keeps it in violent agitation, and the air not only mostthoroughly charges the butter oil with oxygen, but these needle-likejets of hot air are very piercing and penetrating, and they eliminatemoisture, and thoroughly remove also the fungus and germ life, and byits great heat combined with its great force action, which shootsthrough the mass with. thousands of needlelike points, and with thechemical union of the oxygen, the hot air completely saturates,commingles with, and comminutes the molecules of the constituentelements of the butbutter oil is reduced to perfectly pure drybutteroil. The air is then shut off, and the butter oil is then removed fromthis oxygen percolating and refining tank, and is con.- veyed to anemulsifying tank, where it is mixed with properly pasteurized andprepared milk, or if desired with cream or butter milk or with sourmilk, but preferably with pure fresh properly prepared milk, from whichair or oxygen either hot or cold or in any form is excluded, as itspresence under pressure in the butter oil and milk drives out from themilk and butter oil and emulsifier the bouquet or sweet tasting flavorof the milk,

which is the essential element we wish to impart to the butter by thisemulsifying treat ment. These innumerable hot oxygen jets flow withsufficient pressure up through the butter as to very violently agitateit, and they separate and carry up through the butter oil to its surfaceand into the space in the tank above it, any impure, foreign, anddeleterious matter therein, and this impure, foreign, and deleteriousmatter is removed from the surface and from above the surface of thebutter oil, and from the tank by a suction air blast that is strongenough and has capacity to draw from the tank the discharge of thethousand to twelve hundred feet of hot percolating air jets per minute,and carry all of this matter with it. This suction air blast may beoperatively connected to the charge of butter oil by any of the commonlyused air suction devices, such as a suction blower or fan 20, andsuitable piping leading from above the surface of the butter oil andconnected to the receptacle, tank, or vessel in which it is confined tothe atmosphere. In the practical application and operation of thisfeature of our invention, however, we attach a large funnel-shaped pipe22, to the central portion of the top of the tank, which extends to theatmosphere. A drip trap 23, which is provided with a plugged dischargeaperture 24, is formed in the pipe to catch the oil carried into thelower end. of the pipe by the suction air blast, and in the pipe asuction fan 20, is placed, which is operatively connected to an electricmotor or other source of power, which is of capacity enough to suck thevolume of percolating air and force and separate impurities from thebutter oil and tank. As soon as this mechanical mixing emulsifyingtreatment is complete, the emulsilied butter oil is run into a coolingand congealing tank, which comprises a tank in which a body of clearpure cold or ice water is placed, into which the charge of emulsifiedbutter oil is run, and this cold water con geals the emulsified butteroil into a pasty mass, which is separated from the water and is conveyedin a reworking tank, which is a tank provided with rotating paddles orblades, that are rotatably connected to a source of power, such as amotor, where it is reworked to a commercially salable and consumablecondition.

Our pneumatic percolating refining machine is very simple, practical,and inexpensive in its construction and operation, and it will renovateand refine old butter, and will improve in purity new creamery butter,in a very much less time and with very much less expense than themachines at present in use; and while we have described the preferredconstruction and arrangement of the machine, we do not wish to belimited to it, as

our invention contemplates the use of any apparatus that subjects thebutter oil to a hot oxygen treatment, independent of the presence ofmilk or cream or sour milk or butter milk in or with the butter oil.

l/Ve do not illustrate the blower or boiler or emulsifier or the coolingand congealing and reworking tanks, or the system of pipes that connectsthe blower and boiler to our butter oil renovating and refining tank, asthey do not form a part of our present invention.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A. machine for treating melted butter oil with hot air, comprising adouble receptacle, vessel, or tank, one within the other, the outer tankbeing provided with a supply of water, a steam coil operativelyconnected to a supply of steam within said outer tank and arranged toheat said water, an inner closed tank adapted to contain a shallowsupply of melted butter oil, and arranged to set within said outer hotwater tank, an inlet cover at each end of said tank, a main air supplypipe connected to a supply of hot air under pressure, branch air supplypipes leading from said main air supply pipe, extending into said tank,groups of pipes connected to said air supply pipes and extending alongthe bottom of said inner closed tank and provided at their outer endswith removable caps. and provided throughout their lengths withinnumerable air jet discharging apertures arranged to discharge said hotoxygen in any predetermined direction, and arranged and adapted todischarge an innumerable number of needlelike jets of hot air into andthrough the entire mass of melted butter oil, an exhaust pipe connectedat one end between said branch air inlet pipes to said closed tank abovethe butter oil and extending to the atmosphere, a drip trap in saidexhaust pipe provided with a discharge aperture, a removable plug insaid aperture, and a suction fan or blower operatively connected to saidexhaust pipe and to a source of power, and arranged to draw by air su'ction superinduced by the force of the pressure of the hot air flowinginto said tank, the impurities liberated, separated, and removed fromsaid butter oil by said hot air jets.

2. A machine for treating melted butter 'oil with percolatingneedle-like jets of hot air for removing its impurities, which consistsof a tank adapted to confine a body of melted butter at a shallow depth,a hot water holding jacket connected to said tank, a steam coil withinsaid jacket, an air supply pipe connected to a supply of hot air underpres sure and leading into said tank, air discharging pipes connectingwith said hot air supply pipe, said supply pipes being provided withseveral thousand small perforations arranged and adapted to dischargeneedle-like hot air jets into said supply of said melted butter oildownwardly against the bottom of said tank,

and lying in said tank below said pipes on the bottom of said tank,thereby forcing the settlings of deleterious matter that may settle outof and accumulate on the bottom of said tank up through and out of thebody of butter oil in said tank, an air suction pipe connected to thetop of said tank, having capacity enough to receive the volume of airflowing into said pipe, a depending drip pipe in said suction pipeprovided with a discharge aperture, a removable plug in said drip pipe,and a suction fan or blower in said suction pipe of capacity and suctionpower enough to lift and draw from the top surface of said body ofbutter oil such deleterious material as. is forced up through the bodyof butter oil by said hot air jets, as specified.

3. A machine for treating butter oil with hot oxygen to remove itsimpurities and refine it, which consists of a tank, having a centralintegral top portion and cover at each end of said tank, and adapted tohold a shallow supply of melted butter oil, a pipe connected at one endto a supply of hot air under pressure, and extendingat its opposite endto said tank, branch pipes leading into the opposite ends of said tank,a cross pipe in said tank at the ends of said branch pipes, a pluralityof independent pipes connected at one end to said branch pipes andextending in parallel rows across said tank at a short distance aboveits floor, and provided throughout their surfaces with smallperforations arranged to discharge downwardly,

removable caps on the outer ends of said pipes, a suction pipe connectedcentrally to In testimony whereof e afliX our signathe integral topportion of said tank, a sucture in presence of tWo Witnesses.

tion fan Within said pipe, a depending butter CHARLES C. MARTIN. oilcatching drip trap in said suction pipe, ILLIAM D. JONES. provided Witha discharge aperture and a re- WVitnesses:

movable plug in said aperture, substantially G. SARGENT ELLIOTT,

as described. ADELLA M. FOWLE.

